Day: December 4, 2019

Of, By, and For the People

Fandango8 Comments

67238564-097F-4D7D-89FC-F52999AC8835Since the advent of our nation, the people of our country have had a predilection for establishing and maintaining democratic republic with leaders of, by, and for the people.

As I sit here this afternoon watching the House Judiciary Committee’s Impeachment hearing, I am aghast at the damage the Republicans on the committee are doing to the rule of law and to the Constitution of the United States.

These GOP representatives are so enchanted by Donald Trump that they are turning a blind eye to all of his lies, his obstruction of justice, his illegal acts, and his general incompetence to perform his job. The Republicans have totally drunk Donald Trump’s Kool-Aid.

I feel so dirty from what I’ve been watching these despicable Republicans that I think I need to go fix myself a nice, soothing bath.

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (advent), Your Daily Word Prompt (predilection), The Daily Spur (hearing), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (damage), Ragtag Daily Prompt (enchanted), and Daily Addictions (bath).

One-Liner Wednesday — The Future

Fandango10 Comments

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“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

American baseball player, manager, and coach Yogi Berra

I’ve quoted the late, great Yogi Berra before, but given what is going on the world these days, I think Yogi was quite prescient with this quote. With climate change proceeding along virtually unabated, I’m not even sure that humanity will be around in the future.

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G.Hill.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #51

Fandango18 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

My provocative question today is about blogging etiquette.

I am probably guilty of what language maven Ben Zimmer refers to as “peeveblogging.” According to Zimmer, peeveblogging occurs when a blogger (e.g., me) uses his or her blog to vent about language, usage, punctuation, and grammatical faux pas. So yes, I admit to being a peeveblogger. A proud peeveblogger, at that.

Erin McKean, who used to contribute to a weekly language column, “The Word,” for the Sunday Boston Globe, wrote a column about a decade ago entitled “Correctiquette.” Ms. McKean took a shot at people like me. In that column she wrote, “If the person’s meaning is perfectly clear, realize that what you’re really criticizing is their style — and style, or taste, is pointless to argue over.”

When it comes to pointing out grammatical or usage mistakes of others, McKean wrote, “Be honest with yourself: do you really care about helping the other person, or do you just want the thrill of being right?”

So this leads me to today’s provocative question.

If people find typos or grammatical, punctuation, spelling, or usage errors in your posts, do you welcome having them pointed out to you, or do you resent it. As a blogger do you let people know about such mistakes or do you just let them go?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Damage

Fandango18 Comments

FOWCWelcome to December 4, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “damage.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.